MADRID, Spain.- The Cuban opponent and activist Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas was arrested this Tuesday at the José Martí International Airport upon arrival in Cuba.
Fariñas returned to the island after a tour of the United States and Europe during which he denounced the situation of the political prisoners of the regime and the violation of Human Rights in the country.
“At this time `Coco’ Fariñas has just been arrested after his arrival at the José Martí airport in Havana,” he reported through Twitter her daughter, Haisa Farinas.
As he explained, the authorities told his relatives that they should wait for him to be released.
“The intentions of these and the reason for the arrest are unknown,” said the opponent’s daughter.
Right now he has just been arrested @cocofarinas after his arrival at the Jose Marti airport in Havana. The officers just told my relatives that they should wait for him to be released. Their intentions and the reason for their arrest are unknown.
– Haisa Fariñas ?? (@haisa_farinas) May 10, 2022
In other tweet Haisa Fariñas explained that in a call with her family she was able to hear how an (unidentified) State Security official was warning them that she could not leave Santa Clara anymore.
In a call with my relatives I could hear how an (unidentified) state security official was warning them that @cocofarinas You can’t leave Santa Clara anymore. I am trying to contact you again #Cuba to confirm what you heard.
– Haisa Fariñas ?? (@haisa_farinas) May 10, 2022
For her part, the mother of “Coco” Fariñas, Alicia Hernández, who accompanied him, assured Radio Television Marti that in the air terminal someone was filming his son, and at the exit they arrested the driver.
“The agents who intercepted the vehicle told the driver to follow the patrol to the Boyeros Police station, and once there, Fariñas was taken to another place. The agents said they had to talk to him, but the conversation has dragged on,” Alicia Hernández denounced.
Recent tour of “Coco” Fariñas around Europe
Invited by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), “Coco” Fariñas traveled to Spain on February 25.
Arriving in Madrid, the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament offered an interview to the radio network esRadio, from Libertad Digital, in which he stated that he was convinced that popular protests like those of July 11 and 12, 2021 will take place again in Cuba “because there is no food or medicine ” and “the population is very fed up”.
Later he continued his trip to Brussels to meet with the European Parliament.
There, in an extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament, denounced “the situation of total, excessive and unacceptable repression after July 11, 2021” by the regime on the Island.
“It is important that it is known that the Cuban people are being repressed through hunger and lack of medicine. (…) We hope that Europe cares about us”, said the leader of the United Anti-Totalitarian Forum (FANTU).
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